Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to electrical interruption equipment and, more particularly, to a conduit system for metal-clad switchgear.
Related Art
Electrical interruption equipment is generally understood. Depending upon the application, certain switchgear may be situated within metal-clad switchgear enclosures, which can also be referred to as electrical enclosures. While such electrical enclosure equipment has been generally effective for its intended purposes, it has not been without limitation.
When using metal-clad switchgear equipment, it is typically impermissible to have conductors of different voltages within the same enclosure. However, much of the control, diagnostic, monitoring, and display equipment that is provided on a metal-clad switchgear enclosure operates at 120 volts whereas the voltage of the main buses within the switchgear cabinet are at 480 volts or higher. As such, transformers are typically provided within a separate enclosure of the switchgear cabinet, with the transformers receiving relatively high voltage from the main buses and outputting power at 120 volts. As such, a need exists to transfer high voltage current from one location in a metal-clad switchgear cabinet to another part of the cabinet.
It is also understood that such metal-clad electrical cabinets often a contain a circuit interrupter such as a circuit breaker or the like. During a trip event, the gases that might be generated from an arc must be rapidly dissipated, and any conductors that may be employed to communicate the high voltage feed from the mains to the aforementioned transformers must not interfere with the dispersion of such gases. Improvements to metal-clad electrical switchgear are thus desirable.